By Aysar Alais, Laith Al-jnaidi and Rania Abu Shamala
RAMALLAH, Palestine / AMMAN / ISTANBUL (AA) - Jordan and Palestine warned Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s move to expand West Bank settlements undermines the two-state solution.
Netanyahu signed an agreement to expand settlements near East Jerusalem under the so-called E1 plan aiming to split the occupied West Bank into two parts.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli move as a “flagrant violation of international law, and an assault on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
It stressed Jordan’s “absolute rejection of this settlement plan and of Israel’s unilateral, illegal, and illegitimate measures in the occupied West Bank, which constitute a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.”
“Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian land,” the ministry stressed.
It called on the international community to assume its “legal and moral responsibilities” and compel Israel to stop its assaults on the Gaza Strip and escalation in the West Bank.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh accused Netanyahu and his government of pushing the entire region into “abyss.”
“All settlement activity is rejected, condemned and illegal under international law, particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334,” he said.
“The occupation government is not interested in peace, which cannot be achieved without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders,” Abu Rudeineh said.
Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh said the Israeli measures would not change facts on the ground.
“Neither E1 nor any other occupation measures will prevent the Palestinian people from achieving their legitimate national goals, with the support and backing of brothers and friends around the world,” he said on the US social media company X.
The E1 project, which envisions the construction of thousands of settler units in Ma'ale Adumim, and surrounding areas, aims to split the West Bank into two parts, severing connections between its northern and southern cities and isolating East Jerusalem.
Palestinians warn that the project is part of Netanyahu’s vision for a “Greater Israel,” warning that it would entrench the occupation and eliminate the viability of a Palestinian state.
The international community, including the UN, considers the Israeli settlements illegal under international law. The UN has repeatedly warned that continued settlement expansion threatens the viability of a two-state solution, a framework seen as key to resolving the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.